What's up at Blume Ventures and what does their portfolio have to say about them?
Blume is an angel and seed venture fund that backs startups with both funding as well as active mentoring and support. Blume typically funds startups through multiple rounds, leading up to larger institutional rounds like Series A and B from Venture Capital firms. Founded by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath, Blume has invested in more than 70 companies and is of the most active early stage funds in terms investing quickly and disseminating information useful for the ecosystem (blog). Blume regularly comes out with quarterly reports with views and trends from the startup space. It has now come out with a video wherein the Blume's portfolio founders are talking about Blume. This is a healthy way for fund to stay in context and also gives out the message of accessibility. Scroll down to watch the video and we also got in touch with Blume for a few quick Q&A's:YS: How is the startup ecosystem looking at the moment? Are startups being able to raise their next rounds?
Blume: The investment landscape has certainly started looking up over last few months. Having a new proactive government has certainly helped in lifting the sentiments. This year has been particularly good for our companies with many of their either having closed their Series A/B funding or in process.
YS: What is Blume's focus at the moment?
Blume: At this point of time, we are focusing on helping our companies go to the next level both in terms of scale of operations and next rounds of funding. We are also in process of raising a Fund II and are not making any new investments. (read an indepth article about the same)
YS: What stage is Blume in in the fund cycle?
Blume: The Fund 1 has been fully deployed. The raise for Fund 2 has begun. So, we are devoting all our energies in taking our companies to the next level. The Fund 1 still has about 5 years of its life left. We are hopeful with time we will see many successful exits.
YS: Some advice to entrepreneurs approaching Blume.
Blume: As I wrote earlier, we are not making any new investments. Still if you want to get in touch, the best way to get access to Blume is by asking one of our 125 founders to refer. Having worked with us for 1-3 years, they know our preferences very well.
Here's the video:
Website: Blume Ventures
More from Blume:
Growth Hacking : Tips and tricks
Sanjay Nath on BITS Spark Angels & campus startup ecosystems in India
Blume Ventures anticipates 8-10 portfolio companies to raise a series A in 2014